Cut The Craft » Plush

Crafty Bastards Vendor Spotlight – Cotton Monster

Rachel Bone — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:49:44 +0000

The squeal heard round the jury-room for Jennifer Strunge’s Cotton Monsters explains why they sell out so quickly in her etsy shop whenever she does an update. The Baltimore seamstress works without patterns to create each and every colorful little beast, and uses almost exclusively recycled materials (except the stuffing, which she buys new). Strunge not only produces her own line of plush monsters, eyeballs, absurdist sea creatures & “Von Katz” (a new breed of kitty shaped monsters), but she also works at a prominent local puppet theatre as well as doing week long puppet-making residencies in a number of Baltimore city middle schools. No doubt inspired by the children she spends much of her time entertaining with hot glue & pom poms, her Cotton Monsters are a constantly evolving and modifying species (or is it a “family” or “genus”? where are those middle schoolers with their science textbooks?). When the world is lucky, Strunge will agree to a gallery show, and a human sized, extra-eyed, multi-limbed treasure is born. But lucky for our wallets, she is able to produce smaller, tamer versions of the beasts so that we all might have one to snuggle.

I can’t seem to stop purchasing these beasts for my own home, and have thus become friends with their maker (and thus rendered myself ineligible from jurying her for Crafty Bastards) & will say this: If the world runs out of color, we needn’t worry. There’s a stockpile of rainbows in Strunge’s utopian Baltimore studio. I’ve seen it firsthand.

Check out Cotton Monsters in the vendor gallery and at Crafty Bastards at October 2, 2010.

Hello Craft Episode 13: Tigerflight

tina seamonster — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:18:25 +0000

Each week, the Hello Craft Podcast collects stories of making and buying handmade.

In this week’s episode, Beth Baldwin finds herself stitching the words ‘thug life’.

Click here to download the episode (right-click and choose “save as” on PC, or control-click and choose “save as” on Mac)

You can check out Beth’s shop online at http://www.tigerflight.etsy.com. Check out a gallery of the Mortal Plush show.

Calling All Plush Fiends

tina seamonster — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:20:35 +0000

There are few places on the earth where you can find as much plush as you will find at Crafty Bastards this Sunday. From the expressive eyes of Tigerflight’s upcycled owls, to the spotty heads of My Paper Crane’s mushrooms, to the furry weirdness of Jenny Harada’s monsters to the simple wonder that are Spooky Daddy’s Roaming Eyes of Doom. You will find it at the fair.

Jenny Harada recently sat down with Impatient Crafter to make make make! Check out this awesome video:

The Impatient Crafter� and Special Guest Star Jenny Harada!

Need more? Spooky Daddy’s puppet videos/interviews can be found here.

And if you want to make it yourself, go no further than Sewing Stars in Booth #23. She is ready to arm the masses with kits to do it themselves! Check out her blog for tutorials and inspiration.

The 5th Annual Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair is this Sunday, September 28th from 10am-5pm at the Marie Reed Learning Center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Product Spotlight: Tofu for Obama

tina seamonster — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:18:21 +0000

From now until the fair, we’ll be spotlighting awesome items that you will find at this year’s Crafty Bastards. Check out the complete vendor gallery to plan your shopping!

One of the cutest new items that I saw at Crafty Bastards Silver Spring was the tiny Tofu for Obama plush by Chris Creatures. Not only is this tiny tofu cute, he includes a removable t-shirt and an Obama sign for rallies. He’s ready for campaigning!

Chris was nice enough to chat with me about this little guy.

Question: Where did this silliness come from?

Answer: I’m a huge Obama supporter, so for a long time I kept trying to think of how I could show my love. I’m also a big fan of tofu (fried, steamed, grilled, you name it, I eat it!). In my world, tofu would be an Obama supporter. I’ve made the tofu plush before, but he always seemed like he was missing something. I thought it would be funny to give him a sign and a removeable Obama t-shirt.

Question: You sold these at Crafty Silver Spring, what was the reaction?

Answer: I sold the Tofu for Obamas at Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring. It was fun to see people’s reaction to it. They stopped to laugh and take pictures. I made 30 of them for the fair. They sold out and then I took advance orders. I spent a couple of days after the fair sewing those little guys.

Question: Have you sent one to Obama?

Answer: I have not sent one to Obama yet. What is the best way to send it to him? That is the question. I fear that the tofu would sit in a pile of unopened mail for months. He needs to breathe!

I promise to make more for Crafty Bastards in September. A portion of the purchase will go to the Obama 08 Campaign.

The question that Chris didn’t answer was: What food would be for McCain? Pork chops? Sardines?

Be sure to check out Chris Creatures on September 28th at the Marie Reed Learning Center, 2200 Champlain St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC.

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at I Like Seamonsters.com. She is currently being vetted for the V.P. slot.

Upcycled: Tangerine Angora Papa Seahorse

tina seamonster — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:44:06 +0000

Got old sweaters? Make some seahorses!

These lovely seahorses ($40 for the set) by Snaulkter are made from 99% recycled materials; old (washed) sweaters and plastic shopping bags in the fins to make them crinkle. Not only do I love these guys because they are upcycled, but they are totally kid friendly. I could see my kids spending hours making up stories about the Papa Seahorse and his babies. What an awesome use for an old sweater!